Flotation of copper and nickel sulfides from talcose bearing ores

ABSTRACT

A method for the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide minerals from talcose bearing ores using an alkaline circuit in which at least one of the alkaline reagents is soda ash or ammonium hydroxide and following conditioning of the pulp with a collecting agent of the xanthate family to activate the nickel and copper sulphide materials, the pulp is conditioned with a flocculating agent to depress the host rock minerals and in which following flotation the rougher concentrate is further conditioned with a dispersant or a flocculant prior to the first cleaner float.

United States Patent Weston [54] FLOTATION OF COPPER AND NICKEL SULFIDESFROM TALCOSE BEARING ORES Inventor:

[72] David Weston, 34 Parkwood Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Theportion of the term of this patent subsequent to June 6, 1989, has beendisclaimed.

Filed: March 5, 1970 Appl. No; 16,946

Related US. Application Data Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 873,911,Nov. 3, 1969, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 727,268, May7, 1968, Pat. No. 3,596,838.

[ Notice:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 7, 1969 Canada ..67,006

US. Cl ..209/5, 209/ 167 Int. Cl ..B03b 1/04, B03d 1/06 Field of Search..209/166, 167, 5

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,417,263 5/1922 Luckenbach..209/166 *Oct. 10, 1972 1,842,400 1/1932 Hahn ..209/166 2,485,083 10/1949 Booth ..209/166 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 258,648 9/1926Great Britain ..209/166 616,256 3/ l 961 Canada ..209/166 616,687 3/1961Canada ..209/166 Primary Examiner-Frank W. Lutter AssistantExaminer-Robert Halper Attorney-Smart & Biggar [5 7] ABSTRACT 3 Claims,No Drawings FLOTATION OF COPPER AND NICKEL SULFIDES EXAMPLES OF THEINVENTION FROM TALCOSE BEARING ORES 1n the following examples the nickelcopper ore used RELATED APPLICATIONS contained a high percentage oftalc, (in excess of 30 percent) and also a high percentage ofpyrrhotite, (approximately 30 percent) conventional metallurgicalcircuits resulted in low grade concentrates which were uneconomic forshipment to a smelter. The maximum grade concentrate produced wasapproximately 2.5 percent nickel. The head value of the ore was 1.15percent nickel and 0.36 percent copper.

Except where noted, the following circuit was used:

This application is a continuation-in-part of applica- 5 tion Ser. No.873,911, filed Nov. 3, 1969, which in turn is a continuation-in-part ofapplication Ser. No. 727,268, filed May 7, 1968, now U. S. Pat. No.3,596,838.

My invention relates to the flotation of nickel and copper sulphideminerals from talcose bearing ores; Ores of the aforegoing mineralswhich contain substantial amounts of talc had heretofore beenparticularly restage I G i di ;1ime Reagent, to sistant to economictreatment through flotation as the l 5 Mill: aoqiumlfadrbonnt finelydivided talcose materials have interfered with the fi'xf' m i fdifferential activation and flotation of the minerals. Stage 11Conditioning: Time l have found that in using an alkaline circuitwherein 2253:3252 Pmnum at least one of the alkaline reagents is sodaash or amstage n Conditioning: Time 5"s..Reagent monium hydroxide,nickel and copper sulphide 20 at? flocculafinl m and l minerals may besuccessfully floated fromores contam- Rough" flotation. ing highpercentages of talcose type minerals which S I Zim; 9"s. T lo tage V onitioning: irnc to "s normally seriously Interfere with the obtaining ofan musherconcemme with economic grade of recovery and result in poorrecovean m, dimmm or occulant rIes of the nIckel and copper. mm clean"no: GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION According to my invention analkaline pulp wherein The fellofving table n the effect of e 0f the Orehas been reduced to a suitable size of subdivifloeenlants 1n y newen'eun wnel'eln excellent l sion for flotation is produced by wetgrinding the Ore in tion of the talcose and otnel: nest reek nnnel'elsmay be the presence of alkaline reagents consisting at least in ObtainedPrior undeftaklng final P' the part of soda ash or ammonium hydroxide.Preferably,

copper sulphate is also present as an activator for the In en I haveeomblned f e and first i k l l hid i l Al i l h l may cleaner tallrngsas l have found it des1rable to use at be produced by grinding the orein the absence of releast one Stage of flocculatmg P t0 the g r agents dh bj ti h lti l to difloat, and further dispersion or flocculation ofthe tioning in the presence of the aforementioned alkaline n eoneentnateP to the first cleaner float. If reagents, preferably in the presence ofcopper sulphate. i Second Stage not used, too much We OS rock Suitably,the H of the pulp is maintained within the 40 m nerals ar earned yo e ficleaner. e e-m range of 8 to 10.5 throughout the process. it tends toproduce a much lower final grade of concen- The pulp is then conditionedwith a suitable collecttrate. In addition, if too high a concentrationof floccuing agent of the xanthate family (normally Potassium lant isused ahead of the rougher float to reject practi- Amyl Xanthate) untilthe nickel and copper minerals cally all of the talcose minerals in therougher float, are fully activated, following which a flocculating agentrecovery of the nickel and copper minerals will suffer. is addedtogether with a frothing agent such as pine oil My optimum circuittherefore requires at least one and following the conditioning period inthe presence stage of dispersion or flocculation prior to the rougher ofthese reagents the pulp is subjected to a rougher float and at least onestage of dispersion or flocculation flotation. A rougher concentrate isthen repulped, a following the rougher float.

Rghr. plus first cleaner 1i h l nal sis ngs c emma a y Reagents, lbs.per ton and stage added P t P rcent Percent if v v ia. e Ni Cu NazCotNHtOH C1180 Z6 N82510: Gum

.9 0.084 0.013 Sta 0 I 11.25--. Si; e I 0.25 Stage I 0.125... Stage II0.125 Stage I 0.76.-.- Stage IV 0.375.

2%.6 0.107 0. 013 do .i do S.II30"s S.IV3"s 1.5.. 8.111555% Stage Iv0.25.

0.175. 0.6 12!) 64.4 0. 008 0021 .do .d0'. Stage I 0.5..... Stage II0.125 Stage III 0.925. Do.

pll- Rougher flotation p11 approximately 10.0 in all tests except wherenoted.

dispersant or flocculant is added, and following a It will be noted thatwhere the gum is used in stage I further conditioning period in thepresence of these rean Stage test a lower a c and ho t ock rejecagents,the pulp is subjected to a cleaner float. tion is obtained together withlower losses in nickel.

As will be apparent from the detailed examples Test 129 shows theOptimum use of two stages of flocwhich follow, the process of myinvention as described culation wherein the flocculant is added in stage111 and generally results in the satisfactory depression of the againadded In ag IV. i talcose materials to produce a first cleanerconcentrate Test 126 gave Interesting results considering no acofremarkably good grade with excellent recovery of tivator for the nickelsulphide minerals was used, that is both nickel and copper minerals.copper sulphate. In this test a prolonged conditioning time in stage llwas used, that is 30"s, instead of the normal 20"s in the other tests.The flocculant was added ahead of the rougher flotation without anyprevious' dispersion and gave acceptable talc and host rock rejectionwith a reasonable tailings loss considering that no copper sulphate wasused to pre-activate the nickel sulphide minerals. Prior to thefirst'cleaner float in Stage IV, small amounts of both flocculant anddispersant were used.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A process for the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide mineralsfrom talcose bearing ores comprising producing an alkaline pulp of theore in a suitable state of subdivision for flotation wherein at leastone alkaline reagent present is soda ash or ammonium hydroxide and thepH is within the range of from about 8 to about 10.5, conditioning theresultant pulp with a collecting agent of the xanthate family until thenickel and copper minerals are activated, adding a flocculating agentfor the talcose host rock materials together with av frother andconditioning the pulp to depress the talcose host rock materials,subjecting the thus produced pulp to produce a first cleaner concentraterelatively rich in nickel and copper sulphide minerals and relativelypoor in talcose host rock ingredients.

2. A process for the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide mineralsfrom talcose bearing ores comprising wet grinding the ore to produce analkaline pulp thereof in a suitable state of subdivision for flotationwherein at least one alkaline reagent present is soda ash or ammoniumhydroxide and the pH is within the range of from about 8 to 10.5;conditioning said pulp with a collecting agent of the xanthate family inthe presence of a flocculating agent for the talcose host rock materialsto activate the nickel and copper minerals and depress the talcose hostrock materials; further conditioning said pulp with a frother andsubjecting the same to froth flotation to produce a rougher concentrate;repulping the rougher concentrate with the addition of furtherflocculating agent for the talcose host rock materials and conditioning.the thus produced pulp to further depress the talcose host rockmaterials, and subjecting the thus produced pulp to a cleaner float toproduce a first cleaner concentrate relatively rich in nickel and coppersulphide minerals and relatively poor in talcose host rock ingredients.

3. A process as claimed in claim I wherein the reagent selected from thegroup consisting of dispersing agents and flocculating agents for thetalcose host rock materials after the rougher concentrate is repulped isa dispersing agent for the talcose host rock materials.

* III

1. A process for the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide mineralsfrom talcose bearing ores comprising producing an alkaline pulp of theore in a suitable state of subdivision for flotation wherein at leastone alkaline reagent present is soda ash or ammonium hydroxide and thepH is within the range of from about 8 to about 10.5, conditioning theresultant pulp with a collecting agent of the xanthate family until thenickel and copper minerals are activated, adding a flocculating agentfor the talcose host rock materials together with a frother andconditioning the pulp to depress the talcose host rock materials,subjecting the thus produced pulp to froth flotation to produce arougher concentrate, repulping the rougher concentrate with the additiOnof a further reagent selected from the group consisting of dispersantsand flocculants for the talcose host rock materials and conditioning thethus produced pulp to further depress the talcose host rock materials,and subjecting the thus produced pulp to a cleaner float to produce afirst cleaner concentrate relatively rich in nickel and copper sulphideminerals and relatively poor in talcose host rock ingredients.
 2. Aprocess for the flotation of nickel and copper sulphide minerals fromtalcose bearing ores comprising wet grinding the ore to produce analkaline pulp thereof in a suitable state of subdivision for flotationwherein at least one alkaline reagent present is soda ash or ammoniumhydroxide and the pH is within the range of from about 8 to 10.5;conditioning said pulp with a collecting agent of the xanthate family inthe presence of a flocculating agent for the talcose host rock materialsto activate the nickel and copper minerals and depress the talcose hostrock materials; further conditioning said pulp with a frother andsubjecting the same to froth flotation to produce a rougher concentrate;repulping the rougher concentrate with the addition of furtherflocculating agent for the talcose host rock materials and conditioningthe thus produced pulp to further depress the talcose host rockmaterials, and subjecting the thus produced pulp to a cleaner float toproduce a first cleaner concentrate relatively rich in nickel and coppersulphide minerals and relatively poor in talcose host rock ingredients.3. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the reagent selected from thegroup consisting of dispersing agents and flocculating agents for thetalcose host rock materials after the rougher concentrate is repulped isa dispersing agent for the talcose host rock materials.